His answer remained the same. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”
“We’re only going to have a few minutes,” she warned.
“Well aware of that.”
“And this is our only shot,” she added as they rounded up supplies. A quick Google search had taken them to a boutique in Georgetown, then another one near Sapphire, and now they were parking outside a little souvenir shop. Her shoulders tightened with worry that she wouldn’t find the Trojan horse.
“Like a lunar eclipse. Only comes around once every few years,” he said as he opened the car door for her.
“Exactly. And it could come up empty. I don’t even know if I’ll find what I need.”
“Anything can come up empty,” he said, squeezing her hand. “Except this,” he said softly, brushing a kiss on her cheek.
She shivered against him.
“Couldn’t resist.”
“Don’t resist.”
They popped into the shop, and she made a beeline for the shiny objects. She spun a rack around, hunting. “C’mon, c’mon,” she whispered under her breath.
Then she found what she needed to gain entry. “Got it!”
He pumped a fist, and they headed to the counter.
“And you’re going to have to be quiet as a deer,” she said, reminding him. Like he needed a reminder to be stealthy.
He scoffed. “As if I’d be anything but.”
“I’d love to be the gun, but I think I have to be the sniper.”
“Babe, you and me. We’ve got this,” he said, squaring his shoulders, confidence seeming to radiate through him. “We do it like our greatest hits. This one-two punch we’ve got going is the perfect ploy.”
“But what if he hears you? Or what if I can’t distract them?”
“Then we improvise,” he said as they left the store. “That’s what we’ve always done.”
“And you’re sure you want to do this? You were done with this case and walking away. I don’t want to twist your arm into doing something you don’t want to do.”
“Steph, I promise you this. When it comes to adventure, it’s pretty much impossible to twist my arm. I was born to take risks,” he said, patting his backpack, then pointing to the fiery orange ball dipping closer to the horizon. “Now let’s do it. Sun is setting, and clock is ticking.”
As Steph walked past the orchids and palm trees, she reflected on the last time she’d been here at Eli’s home in this tropical paradise. Two days ago. She’d arrived at her stepfather’s, contrite and apologetic. His car and his jewels had been stolen on her watch. Guilt had ravaged her, and doubt had riddled her.
Then, he’d shown his true stripes.
He’d loaned her his car not just because of the better air-conditioning, but to nab the woman who was trying to steal his own stolen gems. He’d told her he’d finally pay the debt he owed her mother, only to send it to a foreign charity. Then, his new lady had let it slip that he’d absconded with the funds in the first place from the company he’d built on the generosity of Steph’s mom.
Eli was charming. Eli was delightful. Somewhere, underneath that cad exterior, he had a heart. He wasn’t entirely a bad guy, but he also traipsed through life with blinders on, oblivious to those he hurt.
This was her last chance to make sure that the bucket of luck in the world didn’t tip over for just one guy.
That it ran back in favor of those who’d been screwed. Everyone he took from.
She rang the doorbell and checked the time. In ten minutes, he’d be leaving for the event at Isla’s gallery—the one to raise money for their favorite pet charity. If she could have sneaked in when he was gone, she would have. But he had an alarm, and she didn’t know the code. The only way to pull this off was to be invited.
A flurry of nerves lodged in Steph’s chest, but she ignored them, steadying herself for this last mission.
He opened the door. “Good evening.” He beamed, holding it open wide and inviting her inside.
Step one—enter the home.
He dropped a quick kiss on one cheek, then the other.
“You look handsome,” Steph said, gesturing to his tailored suit and crisp button-down shirt.
“Why thank you. Wait ’til you see Isla. She’s stunning as always.”
“I have a gift for her,” Steph said, then lowered her voice. “I think you’ll be quite happy to see what I got her.”
Step two—butter him up.
She showed him the small gift bag with a bow on it. “But wait ’til Isla comes downstairs.”
Eli’s eyes lit up in excitement. The man simply loved gifts. “Isla, my love,” he called out. “Steph is here to say good-bye. And she has a gift for you.”
“Be right there,” Isla said from upstairs in her cheery voice.
“Are you excited about the fund-raiser?” Steph asked, bouncing on her toes to show she was simply thrilled, too.
“Oh yes. It’s going to be wonderful,” he said as he waxed on about how much money they hoped to raise, while putting on his cuff links. He got stuck on one, so he removed his Rolex, setting it on the marble table by the door.
“Let me help you,” Steph said as she reached for the cuff link and slid it through the button hole in the shirt.
“You’re a dear.”
A minute later, Isla descended the staircase like a princess at a cotillion. Her black hair was swept high on her head in a twist, with tendrils curled at her cheeks. Her diamond necklace adorned her throat, and a black dress hugged her perfect body.
“Oh Isla,” Steph said loudly. So damn loudly as she clasped her hand to her chest. “You look stunning.”
The volume was his cue.
The second Steph raised her voice, he climbed into the bathroom window. In seconds, he retraced his steps from the other night. Only this time, it was dusk, and he didn’t have the benefit of darkness to cloak him. His heart pounded mercilessly against his chest as he padded across the bathroom floor, down the carpeted hallway, and to Eli’s office. Soundlessly, he wrapped a hand around the knob. It didn’t budge.
Obstacle one.
He removed his lock-picking kit and worked the door. Once unlocked, the door gently slid open. His breath fled his chest when the door began to squeak. A sliver of a sound.
He cringed but slipped inside and managed to shut the door behind him.
He released a quiet breath and set to work.
Time was not only of the essence. It was the essence.
Everyone has a weakness.
For some, the weakness is food. Like Eli. His penchant for sweets had driven him to make many of his choices.
When it came to Isla, the woman seemed to adore shiny objects.
Steph had learned that the best way to the inside was by knowing the target. The more you know, the greater the chance you can crack a safe, open a door, distract a person. You don’t need guns; you don’t need weapons. You need to use your head.
“This is just a small thank-you for being so generous with your time, and taking such good care of Eli, and generally for being you,” Steph said, laying it on thick as she handed her the gift.
Isla seemed the kind of woman who liked praise. The kind of person for whom flattery truly would get you anywhere.
Step three—give the gift.
Isla batted her lashes and gazed lovingly at the white box with the blue bow. She held it to her chest briefly, like she was hugging it. She didn’t even know what it was. “Thank you. It’s so sweet of you to do this.”
“The pleasure is all mine. But I can’t take the credit. A little bird told me you might like them,” she said, gesturing to her stepfather.
He raised an eyebrow curiously.
“You two are the best,” Isla said as she tugged on the bow.
Steph’s pulse soared as she pictured Jake upstairs doing the dirty work. He was right. It had been far easier the last time when she hadn’t known what he was up to. This go-around she was nearly sweating nerves.
But she couldn’t let them see her sweat.
She narrowed her focus to Isla as the woman daintily unwrapped the bow.
That’s right. Take your sweet time.
She dropped the bow on the table. Pulled off the top. And gasped.
Really, it was nothing.
But it was everything.
Isla unwrapped a pair of mermaid earrings similar to the ones Steph had worn.
The Trojan horse.
That was all Steph needed to keep the happy couple occupied at the front door so Jake was free to work his side of the equation upstairs.
One minute and thirty-two seconds this time. He opened the door, fully prepared for a whole lot of nothing. With the way the case had gone so far, he wouldn’t be surprised if the safe was empty. But it wasn’t empty. He found exactly what he came for, and he wanted to kiss the sky as he filled his backpack, shut the safe, placed the coffee table photograph books in front of it, and rose. In half a minute, he’d be out the window.
A scream rang through the house.
Isla tapped her watch. “We really should go.”
Eli nodded. “Yes. We can’t be late to our own event.”
Isla’s nostrils flared. She sniffed the air. She placed her hand on Eli’s arms. “Darling. You forgot your aftershave. You never go to an event without it. It’s your signature scent. Go put some on.”
Steph’s eyes widened. Alarms blared in her head as Eli turned on his heels and lickety-split sprinted up the steps. Jake was in the office. Eli was on his way. She had to warn him. She flashed back to his words. “Then we improvise.”
Quick. She had to think fast. Eli rounded the landing.
Make a noise. Make a sound. Something that would get everyone to freeze. That would lure Eli back down to the first floor and alert Jake.
When it hit her, she had to reign in the wild grin that threatened to burst across her face. Instead, Steph adopted a look of abject fear, pointed to the dining room table, and shouted in her best blood-curdling cry: “Spider!”
Isla shrieked. Eli doubled back. And somewhere upstairs, Steph imagined Jake scrambling. Then, with Isla and Eli hunting for the spider, she made a split-second decision. Her hand shot out to the marble table, like a frog’s tongue nabbing a fly.
The woman had some serious lungs on her. Thank Christ for that. He hightailed it out of the office, shut the door, slinked across the hallway, padded through the bathroom, and climbed out the window. He crouched low, out of view of neighbors, and made his way to the other side of the roof, shielded by trees. He lay flat on the roof and waited ’til they left.
Five minutes later, a car pulled out of the garage, and in sixty seconds, he clambered down the tree and slipped into the passenger seat of another vehicle, his getaway driver pulling away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Spider?”
“She hates spiders,” Steph said matter-of-factly as they drove out of Corey’s Landing. “I had to improvise.”
“It worked.”
“And did it work for you? Did you get them?”
He lifted his backpack and flashed her a grin. “Got ’em all. Left the passport behind, though.”
“Are the diamonds inside them?” she asked, breathless with excitement. Adrenaline still coursed through her veins and probably would for days.
“Well, I wasn’t going to check without my partner.”
“Good answer,” she said, and they pulled into a parking lot at the nearby beach. Steph cut the engine.
As Jake unzipped his backpack, she told herself she’d be fine with whatever the outcome was. She’d gained so much from this trip and this chance with him that anything more would be icing.
She wanted the icing, though.
She was a big fan of icing.
He dug into the pack and grabbed a handful of chocolate bars procured from the safe in Eli’s office. The same kind of bars he’d found the first night. But back then, Steph didn’t suspect Eli had hidden his diamonds in his chocolate bars.
But once she’d set eyes on Jake’s Ghirardelli chocolate gift, the possibility came to her that he’d squirreled the gems away in his “happy place.”
“The real ones are safe and sound and so well hidden that no one will figure it out. Didn’t even need to put them in a bank.”
Chocolate was the perfect hiding spot for Eli. It suited him to a T—hiding his jewels inside something he loved. Someplace he thought no one would look. And since he’d used nuts as his diamond decoy, she reasoned that he’d tucked the diamonds away in the same tongue-in-cheek, aren’t-I-clever fashion.
He loved being smarter than everyone else and pulling off his own heists.
Placing the bars on the center console, Jake presented the chocolate with a flourish. “You can do the honors.”
A wild ribbon of nerves unspooled inside her. She gulped, steeling herself for whatever she found inside. She unwrapped the first bar from Ecuador and broke it in half. Her heart sank. “Looks like chocolate,” she muttered.
“Break it up more,” he said, encouraging her. She crumbled the bar into tiny pieces in the wrapper.
“It’s still only chocolate,” she said, and she wished, she really wished, she could hide the forlorn sound in her voice.
“I know,” he said, his tone positive. “But this bar is the same kind I nabbed the first time I tried the safe. We need to test one that says on the wrapper it has nuts.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t forget what you told me about what you learned from working with me.”
“Use what you know about the target,” she repeated, searching through the stack of chocolate bars for one with nuts. If she was right, the bar would be nut-free but diamond-full.
She opened the silvery wrapper, her fingers slipping once. She steadied herself, gripped the shiny paper, and ripped it. One long inhale of air, and then like a jackhammer she broke the chocolate bar into pieces.
Diamonds rained down.
Shiny, glittering gems.
Chocolate-covered jewels.
A wild exhilaration flooded her veins in a deluge as she and Jake demolished more chocolate bars. Some were chocolate, but some were full of chocolate and riches. When they finished the stack, they had a pile of diamonds in her car and a pound of chocolate.
“How do we know if these are fake, too?” she asked as a new worry set up camp.
“Don’t worry. I know just the guy.”
Jake had always loved bras.
Loved them for what they held inside. Loved them because they were the last line of defense protecting some of his favorite things on the planet.
Tonight, he was ready to worship at the throne of the black lace bra Steph donned. It was the perfect home for millions.
“You’re such a hot mule,” he said, blowing her a kiss.
They’d packed up the loose gems into two small black pouches; then Steph had tucked them into the cups of her bra. “It’s the safest place around. So much safer than a . . .” She trailed off and pretended to bang the drums on her punch line. “A safe.”
Jake mimed dunking a basketball. “She shoots. She scores.” He offered her his elbow. “Shall we go see our diamond man?”
“Let’s do it,” she said.
They left his hotel room and headed to the downstairs bar. If the diamonds checked out as real, he’d call Andrew and let him know he’d managed to turn a sinking ship around big-time. He scanned the crowd for the man with the thick black hair and beard. He spotted Wilder at the end of the counter, nursing what looked to be an orange juice. Jake walked up to him and shook his hand.
“Thanks for meeting me. Especially at the last minute,” Jake said.
“Yes, you very nearly rustled me from my beauty sleep. I have a sharp nine p.m. bedtime,” the man said with a wide grin. Wilder shifted his attention to Steph and bowed slightly.
“Pleasure to meet you,” he said.
“And you as well.”
Jake gestured to a table in the far corner of the establi
shment. “Why don’t we go to where it’s a little quieter,” he suggested, and they parked themselves away from the noise and hubbub of the bar.
Jake reached into his pocket and removed one loose diamond. The gems in Steph’s bra weren’t going anywhere. They were cozying up to her breasts to stay out of the way.
Pinching his thumb and forefinger together, Wilder took the jewel. Jake tried to read his expression as the man assessed the diamond, studying it through a small magnifying glass. When Wilder set down the glass, the corners of his lips curved up. “Color is good. Clarity is good. Weight is good. You have a very real, very expensive ten-thousand-dollar diamond from the Frayer mine.”
Jake sighed in relief, then grabbed Steph’s hand and squeezed it.
“Thank you. A million times over, thank you.”
“It is my pleasure. I assume you will buy me another orange juice,” Wilder said, holding up his nearly empty glass.
“Consider it done.”
While they waited for the drink refill, Jake called Andrew and told him to catch the next flight to the Caymans. He wanted to hand off those puppies as soon as possible. Jake’s job was nearly done, and Andrew could ferry them back to the United States of America and begin his task of converting them back to money, then distributing the funds to their rightful owners.
When he ended his call, Wilder was studying a Rolex.
Jake arched an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
There was a gleam of triumph in Steph’s eyes. “Just a little something my stepdad wanted to give me. I was curious what it’s worth.”
“Where did you get it?” he asked out of the side of his mouth.
“Someone taught me how to pickpocket,” she whispered.
“You took his watch?”
“Well, it was just lying there on the marble table in the entryway. I felt it was calling out to me.”
Wilder raised his face. “This watch is quite valuable, too,” he said, then gave them a price that nearly made Jake’s jaw drop.
“Thank you,” Steph said, then deposited the watch in her purse.
Later, as she popped into the restroom near the bar, he pulled Wilder aside. “Did you bring it?”
The Sapphire Heist (A Jewel Novel Book 2) Page 17